Thursday, February 23, 2012

In 2002—ten years ago!—I gave my first-ever presentation on the effective use of C++ in embedded systems. That presentation was sponsored by Programming Research, a firm that develops static analysis tools for C and C++. Such tools were near and dear to my heart then, and they're no less so now, so I was pleased when Programming Research asked me to collaborate with them again. The result is two seminars this May in Eindhoven, The Netherlands:

The presentation on C++ in embedded systems has been substantially extended and updated since its world debut a decade ago, but the core of that talk—providing practical information about how to apply C++ to solve common problems and to address common issues faced by embedded developers—remains unchanged. For a more detailed overview of the seminar than you'll find at the page linked to above, consult my web site's description.

My Better Software seminar has a characteristic that takes many people by surprise: it doesn't focus on C++. It was originally motivated by my observation that many C++ projects that struggle do so for reasons that have nothing to do with the choice of programming language, so I put together a presentation that focused on the extralinguistic (but still programming-based) issues I commonly encountered. When I was done, I realized that the issues in the presentation applied regardless of..., well, let me quote from my web site's description of the seminar (which is more comprehensive than the official seminar page linked to above):

Some development practices improve software quality, regardless of the domain of the application, the language in which it's written, the platform on which it runs, or the users it is intended to serve. This seminar explores fundamental principles, practices, and standards that improve software quality, no matter what the software does, how it does it, or whom it does it for.

As a reader of this blog, you're likely a C++ developer, but while the material in the seminar is perfectly applicable to you, it's also perfectly applicable to your colleagues who use other languages. I encourage you to let them know about it.

This will be my first time working in The Netherlands. With luck, it won't be my last. I hope to see you in Eindhoven in May.

Friday, February 17, 2012

For the third year in a row, Herb Sutter, Andrei Alexandrescu, and I are teaming up for C++ and Beyond, a limited-attendance conference-only-better event built around the dissemination of new, timely, and practical information for serious C++ software developers. This year's C&B will take place August 5-8 in Asheville, North Carolina, at the Grove Park Inn.

A more detailed post announcing the opening of registration is available on the C&B Blog, which I encourage you to subscribe to if you're interested in C++ and Beyond. That's where most information about it gets posted. Or you can go straight to the registration page, if you like :-)

I hope to see you in Asheville at C++ and Beyond 2012. Andrei and Herb and I are working hard to make it the best C&B ever!